Process of preparing carbinols



Patented July 13, 1948 UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICE 2,444,960 PROCESS 'OFPREPARIN'G" CARBINOLS Lee' -Irvin- Smith and J os apolis, Minn, assignors versity of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn, a corporation of Minnesota No Drawing. Continuati No. 453,282, August -1,

eph A. Sprung, Minneto Regents of the Union of application Serial 1942. This application This invention relatesto'niethods be preparingdi substituted' beta' haloethyl-carbinolsand more" particularly the invention provides --methods of producing" the di-al-kyl-beta-haloethyl carbinol wherein one of theal-liyls is'meth'yl and the other alkyl is 4,8 ,12 -triin'ethyl'-tridecyl,' anew} compound As first starting ingredient there'is utilized a Grignard reagent;

I R1 -Mg--I-Ia wherein R1 is a short'chain'elkyl such as methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl, or the like; or a long chain alkyl, such :as 4,8,12-trimethyl-tridecyl'or an 'aryl such as phenyl or nephthyl and Hais ahalogen such as chlorine, bromine or iodine. As this halogen" is: eliminated in subsequent reactiona it is relatively immateriabwhich is used, altho the chloride is preferred becauseoflavailability; cost and i avorable' reacting .characttis'titis.

As a second starting ingredient, there is used a beta-haloethyl substituted ketone such as betachloroethyl alkyl or and substituted keto'ne or beta bromoethyralkyl or aryl substituted ketone having the general structure in which Rzis ar-sl'iort chainalkyl such asmethyl,

eth l, propyl, butyl or the like .or atlong chain alkyl, such as 4,8,12 trimethy1-tridecylor an arylsuch as phenyl or naphthyl, and X is a halogen such as chlorine, bromine, or iodine. This halogen remains in the product and where such product is subsequently used in the tocoph-erol syntheses, it is preferable that the halogen be chlorine or bromine.

The two starting ingredients are admixed in approximately equal molecular proportions and preferably under cold conditions C. or thereabouts) although somewhat higher temperatures may be used if desired. The lower temperature is preferred since the second mentioned starting ingredient, the beta-haloethyl substituted ketone is somewhat unstable and tends to decompose at higher temperatures. 7

The two starting ingredients aforementioned are gradually admixed preferably with stirring and the addition product is thendecomposed, i. e., hydrolyzed under acid conditions, preierably with dilute hydrochloric acidor ammonium chloride solution. The resultant carbin'ol'is formed a'nd is then separated and purified.

The invention is taken as limiting thebroader aspectsof the' in ve'ntion-herein described and claimed.-

Example I v A solution of ethyl magnesiumv bromide, prepared from'32'fl grams (0.3 mole) of ethyl bro mide and 7.3 grams in-"I5-cc. oi ether wasgradually cooled to 0 C.

and 31 .-5 grams (0.3 mole) of '4-'chloro-butanone=-2:

were gradually added-with stirring. Th'e'addition-pr'oduct' was decomposed with. cold-' dilute". hydrochloric acid, extracted three times: with ethyl ether, washed once with water ands-dried. Theether solution. was colorless but darkened when the solvent was removed; The resultant 5"-'chloro-'3-methylpen.-'

over sodium sulfate.

tanol -3 boiled-at- 104- 105 "C. at 50mm. of 'mer cu'ry pressure and weighed 21.5 grams (51%).

It"had -a camphor-like odor. The structure of the resultant compound is-believedtoibe OH" ontom-t-omornol CGHlzQCl are carbon 52.70% and'hydrogr'r 9.59%;

' Example 1I- Lauryl--ma'gnesium bromide was prepared from 25 grains- (01-10 mole) oflaurylbromid'e and' 2;5"-

grams (0.103 mole) magnesium in 75 cc. of dry ethyl ether. To the vigorously stirred solution of this Grignard reagent, maintained at 15 0., there were slowly added over a period of one hour 8.5 grams (0.08 mole) of 4-chloro-butanone-2 in 25 cc. ofdry ethyl ether. It may be noted in passing that the Grignard reagent precipitated at 0 C. and 15 C. was therefore selected as the operating temperature. The addition product was decomposed with cold water solution of ammonium chloride and the resultant carbinol separated and purified as in Example I. The resultant 1-chloro-3-methyl-pentadecanol-3 boiled at -170 C., at 3 mm. of mercury pressure and the yield was 34.5% (9.5 grams) based upon 7 further illustrated bythe following examples which however are not to be (0.3 mole) of magnesium= the amount of lauryl bromide used. In this example the theoretical amount of ketone was not added because the lauryl bromide probably did not yield more than 80% lauryl magnesium bro-- The structure of the resultant 1-chloromide. 3-methyl-pentadecanol-3 is believed to be The product contained 72.22% carbon and 12.23% hydrogen whereas theoretical percentages of 7 these elements, calculated 'upon the formula CHs CH2CHzCHzCHzCHgCHzCHzCHzCHnCHaCHr-CHzCHzCl The analysis showed 70.03% carbon "and 11.43% hydrogen Whereas the theoretical percentages based upon the formula C16H33OC1 arei carbon 69.39% and hydrogen 12.02%.

Example m The Grignard reagent starting material was made with 4.85grams (0.2 mole) of magnesium in 100 cc. of ether and 66 grams of 4,8,12-trimethyl-tridecanyl bromide (which was contaminated with approximately 25% of the ethyl etherof 4,8,12-trimethyl-tridecanol-1). To the Grignard reagent thus prepared there were slowly added at C., 21.0 grams (0.2 mole) of 4-chloro-butanone-Z in 50 cc. of dry ether. After refluxing for hour; the Grignard reagent was decomposed (hydrolyzed) with cold dilute hydrochloric acid, washed with water, and dried over sodium sulfate. The ether solution was colorless but the residue darkened whenthe ether was removed. Distillation was carried out in;a nitrogen atmosphere. A low boiling fraction consisted of CzoHiiOCliiare 72.12% carbon and 12.42 hydrogen.

some unreacted 4-chloro-butanone-2 which partially decomposed in the distillation flask, giving some solid decomposition products that were deposited in the condenser of the fraction cutter used. The distillation did not proceed smoothly until all of these substances haddistilled over. The second fraction having a boiling point 120-165" C., at 2 mm. of Hg pressure, weighed 29.3 grams and yielded 19 grams of a colorless liquid, boiling point -128 C. at 2 mm. of Hg j decano1-3 boiled at 173-175 C., at 2 mm. of Hg n "P The resultant product which may also be called isophytol-hydrochloride or 4,8,12-trimethyl-tridecyl-beta-chloro-ethyl-methyl-carbinol, hasespecial :usefulness in the synthesis of the tocopherolchromans.

The present application is a continuation of the subject matter of our application Serial No. 453,282, filed Au ust 1, 1942, now abandoned.

Many variations will occur to those familiar with the art and are. intended to be within the purview of the invention described and claimed.

What we claim is: v

1. 4,8,12-trimethy tridecyl beta haloethylmethyl-carbinol.

2. 4,8,12etrimethyl tridecyl-beta chlorciethyl- I methyl-carbinol. a, V

3. 4,8,12-trimethyl-tridecyl-beta bromoethylmethyl-carbinol. v

LEE IRVIN SMITH. JOSEPH A. SPRUNG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of thispatent: 1 UNITED STATESPATENTS I OTHER REFERENCES f Vanino, Handbuch der 'Praparitiven Chemie (1914) vol. 11,, page 34,.

Gatterman, fPractical Methods of Organic Chemistry, 3rd ed. (1923),.Dag'es 348-353:

Fieser, Experiments, in Organic Qheniistryff (193 5).pages 67-71. I 

